After the frustration of five straight losing seasons, the Harvard men's hockey team begins its new season with a promise not present in years.

A new era has begun for the 102-year old Crimson as it welcomes its new head coach, Mark Mazzoleni, just its fourth coach in the past fifty years. With its new leader comes the hope of an eventual return to the glory it had when his predecessor, Ronn Tomassoni, ascended the helm.

While it takes time for any team to adjust to a new head coach, the Crimson should show considerable improvement over last year when it went 14-16-2 (8-12-2 ECAC) and lost in the first round of the ECAC playoffs to RPI

"Since day one there is a whole new attitude on the team," junior winger Chris Bala said. "From the start we had a better atmosphere."

He takes over a squad that for the first time in a few seasons may be accurately termed a veteran team. With 14 players either a junior or senior, it has some battle-hardened men who must be dying for a little taste of success.

As a group they have been to the Lake Placid round of the ECAC playoffs just once, in 1998 and lost in the semifinals.

Harvard returns almost all of its critical players from last season. It graduated only three players of consequence last year, forwards Craig Adams '99 , the captain, and Rob Millar '99 and defenseman Ben Storey '99. The Crimson should have enough punch to replace Adams and Millar, the team's second and third leading scorers.

However, it may miss Storey's offensive production. A smooth skater, he was the Crimson's lone rushing defenseman, and there is no apparent replacement. He caught mononucleosis after the second game of the year and Harvard starting the season 0-8-1 in conference, its worst start ever.